about
Morgan Moroney (he/him) is an award-winning lighting and video designer working across theatre, opera, dance and installation. Growing up on Kaurna land, he currently lives and works primarily on Gadigal land. He brings a distinct multidisciplinary approach to his practice, with a particular fascination for integrated-media live performance.
A graduate of NIDA, Morgan received the 2020 APDG Emerging Designer for Live Performance Award for his design on Ghosts (NIDA). Morgan has been nominated three times for a Sydney Theatre Award in Best Independent Lighting Design, winning in 2023 for Collapsible (essential workers). He won the 2023 APDG Award in Lighting Design for Cleansed (Redline Productions). In 2024, Morgan was the recipient of the Michael Northen Award for emerging Lighting Designers, administered by the Association for Lighting Production and Design in the UK.
Morgan’s work as Lighting Designer includes Nayika: A Dancing Girl (Belvoir), Dido and Aeneas (Pinchgut Opera), The Turn of the Screw (Hayes Theatre Co), Saplings (ATYP), Shitty (Belvoir 25A), The Queen’s Nanny (Ensemble), Inferno (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra), Girls in Boys’ Cars (NTofP), Suddenly Last Summer and Clyde’s (Ensemble), The Barber of Seville (Opera Australia National Tour), Shack (ATYP) and Anatomy of a Suicide (Sugary Rum Productions). His video design work includes A Letter for Molly (Ensemble). Collaborations as Lighting and Video Designer include: Collapsible, which he also co-directed, CAMP (Siren Theatre & WorldPride) and A Practical Guide to Self-Defence (Merrigong & NTofP).
Morgan’s Assistant and Associate Designer work with Nick Schlieper includes Dracula (Sydney Theatre Company) and The Phantom of the Opera on Sydney Harbour (Opera Australia). His upcoming productions for 2024 include August: Osage County (Belvoir). Morgan is one half of independent theatre contingent essential workers.
Morgan is represented by HLA Management.
E: natalie.stewart[at]hlamgt.com.au or morgan[at]morganmoroney.com
awards
WINNER | Best Lighting Design of an Independent Production 2023
Sydney Theatre Awards, for Collapsible (Redline & essential workers)
WINNER | Michael Northen Award for Lighting Design 2023
Association for Lighting Production and Design, UK
WINNER | Event Engineering Lighting Design Award 2023
Australian Production Design Guild, for Cleansed (Redline & Maximillian Brown)
WINNER | NIDA X Storytelling Futures Grant 2022
National Insitute of Dramatic Art, for Collapsible
WINNER | Emerging Designer for Live Performance 2021
Australian Production Design Guild, for Ghosts (NIDA 2020)
nominations
NOMINATION | Creative Crunchers Multi-Discpline Design Award 2024
Australian Production Design Guild, for Inferno (Australian Brandenburg Orchestra)
NOMINATION | TDC Video Design for Live Performance or Event Award 2024
Australian Production Design Guild, for Collapsible (essential workers)
NOMINATION | Event Engineering Lighting Design Award 2023
Australian Production Design Guild, for Anatomy of a Suicide (Sugary Rum & Chopt Logic)
NOMINATION | Best Independent Lighting Design 2022
Sydney Theatre Awards, for Cleansed (Redline & Maximillian Brown)
NOMINATION | Best Independent Lighting Design 2021
Sydney Theatre Awards, for Significant Other (New Theatre)
media
Spotlight on Morgan Moroney’s journey from NIDA to award-winning Lighting Design - NIDA
Ghosts Process Interview - Australian Production Design Guild
Conjuring the Intangible: Reflections on process from a Lighting Designer - ADSR Zine, March 2022
Lighting and Video Designer’s Future Shines Bright - Department for the Arts & NIDA
selected credits
2024
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY dir. Eamon Flack | Lighting Designer
Belvoir & Black Swan | Upstairs Theatre & Heath Ledger Theatre
NAYIKA: A DANCING GIRL dir. Nithya Nagarajan & Liv Satchell | Lighting Designer
Belvoir | Upstairs Theatre
DIDO & AENEAS dir. Lucy Clements | Lighting Designer
Pinchgut Opera | City Recital Hall
THE TURN OF THE SCREW (opera) dir. Craig Baldwin | Lighting Designer
Hayes Theatre Co & Craig Baldwin | Hayes Theatre
SHITTY dir. Zoë Hollyoak | Lighting Designer
Belvoir 25A & essential workers | Downstairs Theatre
SAPLINGS dir. Abbie-Lee Lewis | Lighting & co-Set Designer
ATYP / Sydney Festival | Rebel Theatre
THE QUEEN’S NANNY dir. Priscilla Jackman | Lighting Designer
Ensemble & Merrigong Theatre
COLDER THAN HERE dir. Janine Watson | Lighting Designer
Ensemble Theatre
THE DRY dir. Harley Mann | Lighting Designer
Circa Cairns | Cairns Performing Arts Centre
THERE’S A SEA IN MY BEDROOM dir. Tim McGarry | Lighting Designer
Australian Chamber Orchestra | ACO Neilson Theatre
DRACULA dir. Kip Williams | Associate Lighting Designer
Sydney Theatre Company | Roslyn Packer Theatre LD: Nick Schlieper
2023
COLLAPSIBLE by Margaret Perry | co-Director, Lighting & co-Video Designer
essential workers / Redline | Old Fitz Theatre
INFERNO dir. Constantine Costi | Lighting & co-Set Designer
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra | Casula Powerhouse
TRACK WORKS (opera) dir. Clemence Williams | Lighting Designer
BBT Theatre Company | Mortuary Train Station
GIRLS IN BOYS CARS dir. Priscilla Jackman | Lighting Designer
National Theatre of Parramatta | Lennox Theatre
MR. BAILEY’S MINDER dir. Damien Ryan | Lighting Designer
Ensemble Theatre
SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER dir. Shaun Rennie | Lighting Designer
Ensemble Theatre
CLYDE’S dir. Darren Yap | Lighting Designer
Ensemble Theatre
THE NUTCRACKER dir. Elsie Edgerton-Till | Lighting Designer
Australian Chamber Orchestra | ACO Neilson Theatre
JALI dir. Oliver Twist | Lighting & Set Designer
SOHO Theatre, London (return season)
CAMP dir. Kate Gaul | Lighting & Video Designer
Siren Theatre Co, Seymour Centre & Sydney WorldPride | Reginald Theatre
KAIROS dir. & chor. Meryl Tankard | Associate Video Designer
Sydney Festival 2023 & FORM | Carriageworks Bay 20
MAUREEN: HARBINGER OF DEATH | Associate Lighting Designer
Adelaide Festival, LD: Nick Schlieper
2022
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE dir. Priscilla Jackman | Lighting Designer
Opera Australia | National Tour 2022-23
CLEANSED dir. Dino Dimitriadis | co-Lighting Designer
Maximillian Brown & Redline | Old Fitz Theatre
ANATOMY OF A SUICIDE dir. Shane Anthony | Lighting Designer
Sugary Rum, Chopt Logic & Seymour Centre | Reginald Theatre
SHACK dir. Hayden Tonazzi | Lighting Designer
Australian Theatre for Young People | Rebel Theatre
A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO SELF-DEFENCE dir. Dom Mercer | Lighting & Video Designer
NTofP & Merrigong | Lennox & Bruce Gordon Theatres
ART + INFORMATION dir. Kate Gaul | Set, Lighting & Video Designer
Seymour Centre & USYD | Reginald Theatre
JALI dir. Oliver Twist | Lighting & Set Designer
Seymour Centre, Reginald Theatre & national tour
BEING HERE NOW & UH OH (Dance Double Bill) | Lighting Designer
Redline | Old Fitz Theatre
A LETTER FOR MOLLY dir. Ursula Yovich | Video Designer
Ensemble Theatre
STILL UNQUALIFIED dir. Janine Watson | Video Designer
Ensemble Theatre
PPY22: REVEALED | co-Lighting Designer
Sydney Dance Company | Carriageworks Bay 20
MAUREEN: HARBINGER OF DEATH | Associate Lighting Designer
Rising Festival & Darwin Festival, LD: Nick Schlieper
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA ON SYDNEY HARBOUR dir. Simon Phillips | Assistant Lighting Designer
Opera Australia, LD: Nick Schlieper
2021
JAGGED LITTLE PILL AU | Assistant Video Designer
GWB Entertainment | Theatre Royal
SIGNIFICANT OTHER dir. Hayden Tonazzi | Lighting Designer
New Theatre
THE CONSTRUCT dir. Zebastian Hunter | Lighting Designer
Circus Monoxide & Quiet Riot | Bruce Gordon Theatre
OUTDATED dir. Mark Kilmurry
co-Video Designer | Ensemble
OTHELLO & THE TEMPEST dir. Damien Ryan | Lighting Associate
Sport for Jove | York Theatre & Riverside Theatre
CLAUDEL dir. Wendy Beckett chor. Meryl Tankard | Video Associate
Tinderbox | Sydney Opera House, Playhouse
ERNANI dir. Sven-Eric Bechtolf | Video Associate
Opera Australia & Teatro Alla Scala | Sydney Opera House, Joan Sutherland Theatre
2020
GHOSTS dir. Priscilla Jackman | Lighting & Video Designer
NIDA | Reg Grundy Studio
ANTIGONICK dir. Zoë Hollyoak | Lighting & Video Designer
NIDA | Space Theatre
AND TELL SAD STORIES OF THE DEATH OF QUEENS dir. Liam McIlwain | Lighting Designer
NIDA | Space Theatre
THE CAT dir. Amelia Burke | Lighting Designer
NIDA | Space Theatre
EVERYBODY dir. Gabriel Fancourt | Lighting Designer
Cross Pollinate & bAKEHOUSE | King's Cross Theatre
PIT dir. Mikala Westall | Lighting Designer
sandpaperplane | Old 505 Theatre
TALKBACK dir. Elise Wilson | Video Designer
sandpaperplane | Blue Room Theatre
DAVIDDAVIS@ dir. Andrew McInnes (staged workshop) | Lighting Designer
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Music Workshop
NOISE (audiovisual installation) | co-Designer & Producer
Articulate Project Space
2019
FAUST dir. Sam Trotman | Lighting Designer
NIDA | Space Theatre
A RESPECTABLE WEDDING dir. Tait De Lorenzo | Lighting Designer
NIDA | Space Theatre
MARAT/SADE dir. Gavin Robins & John Bashford | Video Designer
NIDA | Studio Theatre
HAMLET - A NEWER AUSTRALIAN PLAY dir. Riley Spadaro | Video Designer
ban shakespeare | Bondi Pavilion Theatre & here we are @ AGNSW
THIS BITTER EARTH dir. Riley Spadaro | Associate Lighting Designer
New Theatre
2018 - preceding
EX MACHINA dir. Finn Caldwell | Video Associate
NIDA | Space Theatre